


The Dragon's Wager

by rashaka



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Gen, Supernatural AU - Freeform, a year and a day, fairy tale, knights and dragons and bargains and time, that's the traditional wager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 07:56:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1130189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rashaka/pseuds/rashaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long ago in a land far from here, a knight was sent to slay a dragon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dragon's Wager

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teaandchess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaandchess/gifts).



> originally posted [on tumblr as an anonymous christmas gift](http://teaandchess.tumblr.com/post/70756569943/the-knight-was-loyal-to-his-country-but-he-was-not)

Long ago in a land far from here, a knight was sent to slay a dragon.

He stormed the cliff caves with his blades sharp and his mind sharper. He found the dragon, the darkest and most terrible beast in the kingdom. With great bravery the knight bested the creature. He nearly killed it, but at the last moment the dragon tricked the knight with a bargain. 

"Spare me, knight, for this very day I have found love at last, and do not wish to die. I can see from your state of your person and the emptiness in your eyes that you do not know love, so you may not understand, but I do. If you carried love as I carry it, you would spare me. Or are you incapable?" 

The knight was skeptical that love could even exist for such a creature, but he had no practice in matters of the heart, and did not feel confident to judge. The dragon scented his hesitation, and laughed like a rumbling mountain. "I wager you think yourself above such emotions, brave knight. So hear my vow: I will eat no humans for a year and a day." 

"If you can go that year and day without falling in love," continued the dragon, "I will submit to you, and you may kill me if you wish. If you do fall in love, however, then after the period is done you must leave your love and join me here, where I may kill you if I choose. " 

The knight was loyal to his duty, but he was not without mercy. He knew dragons were famous for speaking truth, particularly unwanted truths, so he thought himself kinder to give beast a chance. He might always kill it later if necessary, and it would even be sporting to face the creature once more in combat. The terms of the bargain were of no concern; he did not think it very likely that he might fall in love, since he never had before.

The knight promised, and left the dragon cave. He returned to his king and his brother knights, who named him fool and coward, but the knight did not care much for their opinions. 

Nearl the whole summer had passed when a visitor to the kingdom came before the court, and begged escort to hunt a dragon. She was beautiful, but cruel, with careless words and an unfeminine demeanor. She claimed to be a distant relative of the king, so the knight was ordered to escort her on the great hunt. They traveled for many weeks together. The knight attempted to steer her away from the dragon cave--the only dragon he knew--in order to keep his word, but she insisted.

When they reached the cave, the dragon was gone, and they supposed it traveling for the oncoming winter. Defeated, the lady accompanied the knight back to his kingdom. During these months of journey the knight had grown accustomed to the lady. While often rude or wrong-headed, she was unfailingly clever, often keeping them out of trouble on the road. She became determined to teach him a sense of humor, something which she claimed he lacked most grievously. Despite her prickly nature, he found that her observations and opinions intrigued him more than any of his fellow warriors. Nor was she like the women in the city, who were always too occupied with business and politics to pay him attention. When winter came she stayed in the king's palace for the season, and it was put upon the knight that he should keep her occupied lest her taste for mischief and cruelty cause a ruckus. They spent many days together, until spring returned. 

After the floods receded, they had the summer to hunt a dragon again. The lady claimed to desire a scale from a dragon's throat to make herself a fine necklace, and no dragon would ever part with a scale from so vulnerable a spot unless it was slain first. Quests of this sort often ended in tragedy, a warning that the lady dismissed as soon as it was so spoken. The dragon's bargain weighed heavily on the knight at this time. He procrastinated and prevaricated as long as he could, but soon the whole court grew tired of the lady's complaints and demanded he take her to slay the dragon.

They went over hill and dale, through dark forests and and under waterfall, till they came at last to the dragon's cave. The knight was near ill with concern, for he suspected he might have failed his test. The idea of the lady being eaten in her foolish quest created in him a deep heartache. If the dragon submitted, all would be well, but if the dragon realized that the knight had indeed fallen in love, it would surely kill him and the lady too. The knight resented the arrogance of his pact of the prior year, and blamed himself for thinking it reasonable to make agreements with monsters. 

The knight's honor and his word compelled him to face the truth. Seeing no escape from his fate, he halted them just before the cave. He looked at his friend, and told her plainly that a year and a day ago he had made a bargain with a dragon, and had lost. He must now go to the dragon, who would surely bite him to pieces, but the lady could flee. There was no need for her to die. With her hands on her hips, the always-cunning lady asked him why he should not just lie to the dragon.

Shaking his head, the knight said, "The wager was the life of the dragon against my own, because I thought myself incapable of love. But we are here, and I could no more deny my love for you than I could claim the sky to be red at noon or the leaves to be fallen starlight. I know myself at last, and that must be enough. Perhaps the dragon will show me the same mercy I showed it, a year and a day ago."

Having said his piece, the knight entered the cave, his sword sheathed and his face fearful. Fear had never been a concern of his before, but having now a reason to truly live, he found the prospect of dying weighed like a stone in his heart.

The enormous cave was empty when he breached the mouth. He waited for some time, looking through the depths in curiousity. Under the light of a torch he found many jewels and the armor of dead warriors with human bones still inside them. Deep in the recesses, he saw strange objects: soft garments, jewelry a fine maiden could wear, and small swords of the sort a female warrior might use. While he stared at these in puzzlement, wondering if there was a captive that needed to be rescued before he was eaten, footsteps echoed behind him.

He turned and saw the lady, his dear companion, tossing an enormous ruby idly from hand to hand. He immediately begged her flee, but she just smiled and casually tossed the gem into a pile of gold. She sauntered toward him, and said, "But don't you see, my knight? It is my ruby. Those are my gowns, and this is my cave. I have met you here, just as I promised."

The knight was stunned, and finally he asked if she would eat him since he failed her test. The lady snorted in a quite un-lady-like manner and pressed up close against him. 

"Why would I eat you?" she asked as she wrapped her arms slyly around his waist. "You have broken my enchantment. I was a queen once, the most selfish and cruel of all the kingdom's royalty. Three hundred years ago a magician cursed me to be a dragon, and I knew nothing but greed and gore until you spared my life. My curse, you see, was loneliness. But if I could earn love from a noble heart within a year and a day, I would remain human until my natural death. When you said you loved me before the earth and the sky, I was freed."

Awed and overjoyed, the knight embraced the lady who had been a dragon, and kissed her as he had longed to do all winter, spring, and summer past. 

They left the cave together, bringing the dragon's treasure as a gift to the king, that he might marry them and release the knight from fealty. The knight had long since tired of fighting, and the lady had no interest in politics. They took what meager inheritance the knight could claim, and traveled together till the end of their days.


End file.
